If you are cooking beans, wash it well and soak it for at least 30 minutes in clean water before cooking it. As per my experience, I use pressure cooker to tenderize red kidney beans for cooking chili beans. It takes 20 minutes for the pressure cooker to do its job. But after soaking in water before cooking, it only takes half the time for the pressure cooker to tenderize the beans. Think of the savings on gas or electricity.
That is true and a clever way of cooking beans properly. I usually soak such beans - red kidney beans and also chickpeas overnight before cooking them the next day. That way, not only the beans and chickpeas turn tender quickly but also soak up all the spices and flavours really well.
This is the method we always use at home. We soak beans overnight and cook the next day. So the beans will take less than 3 hours to cook and it will also cook well. When we cook without soaking, it can take up to 5 hours. Soaking softens beans and also makes them appear to be much than before they got soaked.
What you are saying is very rue. Soaking beans before cooking makes them to cook faster hence saves on time and fuel consumption. Unsoaked ones take too much time hence consume a lot of energy or fuel.
We always soak all pulses overnight including gram and kidney beans before cooking. That helps save energy and even the taste becomes better. We also use pressure cooker but if you do not soak the pulses properly (Take 2-12 hours depending on particular items)
Also if you forget to soak the beans overnight, you could use the quick-soak method- bringing the beans to a boil,and then let them soak in hot water for a hour-and this gives you a starting point,just like you soaked them overnight. Make sure to rinse the beans before you start, with some cool running water in a colander-after that put in a pot with a cover with 2 inches of water. Bring the beans to a boil for a minute-after that, cover with a lid and let them soak for a hour. Drain the beans after that and start cooking with your recipe.
